When we first moved into our home, we noticed that a dove had built a little nest on a little perch above one of our front porch columns!
Every morning, the kids and I would look out the little window at the side of our door to take a peek at the bird. One morning we found a portion of an egg shell which let us know that the baby birds had hatched! We didn't see the baby birds until they were a little older. There were 2 babies.
We continued to watch the birds-- and we wondered if the mother bird ever left the nest because the birds were never alone. Come to find out, doves are monogamous and take turns tending to their babies. One sits with the babies while the other gets food. And the whole time we thought it was just the mommy!
As the days went by, I noticed the babies were being left alone a little more. I watched as the "mom" (may have been dad sometimes, I guess, don't know!) fed the babies and I grew quite fond of them.
This morning, I checked on the dove family as usually and was surprised to see only one baby in the nest!! And I knew what this meant-- time for the babies to learn how to fly! I was determined to see the baby take it's first flight so I got out my video camera and waited-- and ignored my "no TV" rule just this one time so the kids could be occupied and I wouldn't miss the moment.
The baby fluttered it's wings many times. It chickened out a few times too- it would get to the edge of the nest like it was about to fly and then go back deep into the nest. I then noticed down below that not only mom and baby #1 were waiting but daddy as well! Up until then, I had no idea that a dad had even been around at all! It prompted me to look up the habitat of doves and come to find out they make sweet little families :)
Anyway, I watched and watched and then in an instant, baby #2 took flight!
Baby dove taking flight for the first time from Marissa Noe on Vimeo.
He landed next to his family and they all hung out together on the front porch for most of the morning. I had so much fun watching them.We were kind of waiting for this moment- for the doves to leave their nest. They pooped all over our porch which meant Adam had to hose it down once a day at least. And then by the next day it would be covered again! But when Adam found out that doves sometimes come back to their nests, I think we've decided to keep it there... and I kind of hope they DO come back because it would be fun to see more little baby birds in the mornings!
(F.Y.I.- I photo-shopped all the poop out from the above picture because it was honestly too disgusting to look at or put on my blog!)
